The New York County Lawyers' Association and the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization of black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and allies dedicated to fostering equality, demonstrate that the same unconstitutional rationalizations that were used to justify the prohibition against interracial marriage are being used today to preclude same-sex couples from marrying. Viewed against this historical background, amici submit that the prohibition on civil marriage between same-sex couples must be recognized as unconstitutional.

This petition asks the court to make a declaratory judgment and allow the plaintiffs, a group of Iowan same-sex couples, to marry. Each couple bringing the case was denied the right to marry because their partners are of the same gender, violating Iowa guarantees of due process and equality under the law.